Koren in talks over new deal

Tuesday 26th August 2008, 2:55PM BST.

korensecondceleb1.jpgAlbion midfielder Robert Koren has opened talks over a contract extension at The Hawthorns.

The Slovenian midfielder is keen to extend his stay with the Baggies after a successful first 18 months in England.

And manager Tony Mowbray is ready to reward his efforts with a second contract extension since he arrived from Norwegian side to Lillestrom.

Contrary to reports yesterday Koren has not agreed or signed an extension.

But discussions have begun with both sides confident of a deal being struck.

There is no urgency to agree an extension as Koren is contracted for the rest of this season and his current deal includes an option for next season in the club’s favour. The 27-year signed initially on an 18-month contract in January 2007 before agreeing his first contract extension last summer.

Discussions were ongoing today over possible new faces, but reports of fees being agreed for two targets are said to be wide of the mark. Various stories claimed agreements had been reached with Charlton for midfielder Zheng Zhi and Real Mallorca for Argentine striker Oscar Trejo. But both deals are very much in the discussions stage.

Charlton are resigned to losing China captain Zheng but they remain keen to recoup the best possible transfer fee for the China captain amid reports that other Premier League clubs are ready to join the race.

The Addicks’ valuation of the player, believed to be between £2m and £2.5m, has not been met by anyone.

Mallorca are reluctant to part with talented forward Trejo despite strong interest from the Baggies. The La Liga club are conscious that last season’s leading scorer, Daniel Guiza, has already left for Fenerbace.

Albion also remain in talks with NEC Nijmegen over Swedish centre-back Jonas Olsson.


  1. 1
    SOTV

    Great news about Koren :)

    Report abuse

  2. 2
    andrew hodgkinson

    Never mind about a new contract for Koren,we
    urgently need a new striker and quick!

    Report abuse

  3. 3
    Astle Is The King

    Get Koren signed and GET A STRIKER!!!!!!!!!

    Report abuse

  4. 4
    baggieboy80

    you heard it here first, an extremely good contact of mine with massive links to WBA has stated that Kevin Doyle is a massive target for the club and talks with reading are ongoing!!!

    Im sure he would be welcomed with open arms by all if he decides to join! Fingers crossed

    Report abuse

  5. 5
    ASTLE-IS-KING

    Come on Mogga we desperatley need a new striker. Can’t believe we are having to rely on bring beattie of the bench in matches. How much would blues accept for phillips? ; )

    Report abuse

  6. 6
    WolvesTom

    Hows the points total going? Wahey!

    Boing Boing!

    Report abuse

  7. 7
    Kingswinford Baggie

    I said sometime ago that we were not ready to lose Kevin Phillips or Zoltan Gera and that is still the case. Phillips may be older and slower thjan he was but he still has tremendous positional sense which Miller will never have whilst Morrison will never be a Gera. We need at least one more sriker who can play off Bednar or Slusarski. Meanwhile we need to give Bednar and Slusarski a chance and at the same time give some of the home grown young players some experience. Buying players is not always the answer as Manchester United have always been prepared to give youngsters a chance. We must do the same. We need to be bold but not nieve. Playing with a lone striker at home is the best way to lose matches as was proven against Everton.

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  8. 8
    brian hemming

    after tonight forget midfielders and find somebody to score goals

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  9. 9
    brian hemming

    we need a goalscorer

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  10. 10
    Loggerheadsbaggie

    I agree.We may have scored a hatful of goals in the last two years but we have now stepped up another level and we have lost almost a third of the goal scoring with Kevin and Zoltan moving on with no recognised proven replacement.Even Stoke City have paid over £5m for a new striker and retained what they had last year.They are an ugly side but with the strikers they have I fear they may finish above us–and I hate it living just outside Stoke.

    We need a proven scorer at Premiership level otherwise our fete will be the same as it was when we first got promotion to this level of football.We can play as much nice possession football but we have to have a proven goal scorer up front.Top quality strikers will punish our mistakes–as they did last Saturday.We were by far the better team but didnt have the quality in the six yard box.

    I would be surprised if any of our current squad reach double figures.I hope I am wrong but you could see this when we played Portsmouth off the park at Wembley.

    Come on Jeremy please let Tony bring in a quality striker–the clock is ticking.I hope we can get some points on the board on Saturday otherwise we could get left behind before September

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  11. 11
    terrySOMBRERObaggie

    morning premier fans (exl vile)morning chumpionship fans,aye boing boing

    Report abuse

  12. 12
    terrySOMBRERObaggie

    some shocks in the carling cup last nite,how about dingles taking rotherham to pens bad luck that was,nearly a shock there,aye boing boing

    Report abuse

  13. 13
    Cornish Wolf

    2 andrew
    Bet Phillips is looking good now!
    Up The Wolves

    Report abuse

  14. 14
    Cornish Wolf

    6 Tel
    I’ve heard about folk with brass neck but boy you take the biscuit. All that can be said about your result is OOP’S.
    Still you can try to concentrate on avoiding boinging back down to the CC. Yo-Yo’s!
    Up The Wolves

    Report abuse

  15. 15
    jkBOING BOING

    never mind about zhi we hav got 2 many midfielders like him we need a big strong midfielder an a striker!!!!!!!!!

    Report abuse

  16. 16
    laughingwolf

    terry 10. Not really the best time to comment on alot of squad players drawing then losing on penalties when you just got convincingly beat by Hartlepool with alot of your 1st team playing. I did say before the everton game that you guys need firepower. As a wolves fan I am glad we are out that cup and if i were a baggie id want that unwelcome distraction out of the way too. Anyway on a more positive note you should be happy about playing bolton on sat they were awful last night!

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  17. 17
    laughingwolf

    if beattie is regularly coming on this season when he couldnt get near the squad last season it shows how much the club has weakened in the attacking department. He was shipped out on loan aswell!

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  18. 18
    laughingwolf

    funny again how nedball and happy-baggie have been missing at the same time I wish he or she would just cut it out and admit its one person!? Football is a funny game I dont hear anybody singing mowbrays praises after 3 straight defeats 6 goals conceeded and 3 scored. Did valero play last night? did he look good?

    Report abuse

  19. 19
    laughingwolf

    typing error- 2 scored

    Report abuse

  20. 20
    Warren (Albion)

    Laughing Wolf

    I, and many others, still sing Mowbray’s praises. We’re not far away from having a very good team, and you’d undoubtedly swap places with us at the drop of a hat!!!

    Last night was hugely disappointing, but we musn’t lose sight of the fact we’re one striker and maybe another centre-back away from having a team that will compete at Premiership level.

    Bring on Saturday and lets get the ball rolling!!!

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  21. 21
    terrySOMBRERObaggie

    14,dont you mean take the pasty aye boing boing in the prem

    Report abuse

  22. 22
    Happy_baggie

    Hi everyone. I’m back from me travels now, and how reassuring to see that old laughed at wilf is still as strange as ever….it’s like I’ve never been away !

    The guy really should accept that if more than one name thinks he’s a moron – it doesn’t make them the same person… I’m sure we could find many names on here who think he’s a moron – and they can’t all be me !!!

    Anyway, disappointed with last nights result – I aint seen any of the game at all so no idea how we played (can’t have been great).

    I have to agree with Brian H and Astle is King – we need to get another goal scorer in to get things going again – although its a bit early for hitting the panic button. I’m sure there will be some more activity on the transfer front – TM knows what we need, it’s getting the right players thats the hard part.

    Anyway – chin up…. we have a whole season to look forward to, and our two prem games so far have been very good games with just the odd goal doing us.

    Report abuse



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